Fear Factory's Ray Herrera Interviewed

I had the chance to sit down with Ray Herrera from Fear Factory on Tuesday, April 13th. I would personally like to say this guy is very cool and very down to earth. I had a few problems setting up the interview but it all worked out well. After the interview he was cool enough to still sit and chat for another ten or so minutes extra. This was such an honor this band is one of my favorite bands I've been listening to them since Demanufacture came out and it was cool to just sit there and chat with him. The show was great, and they sounded amazing as always! Without further blabbing, here's the interview:

Mike (CorrosiveMind): How is the Jagermeister Tour going for you guys so far?

Raymond Herrera: So far so good, fucking shows have been sick. The fans have been going crazy, and it's been a pretty fuckin sick tour so far. I think people are more surprised then anything to see Slipknot and Fear Factory on the same bill.

Mike: What are some of the biggest influences that made you want to play drums?

Mike: What was it like writing the new material with Christian on guitar and with Byron (former Strapping Young Lad) in the band.

Ray: It was actually a lot of fun writing with Christian, he's actually faster, he's actually tighter. He's got a lot of different musical ideas. He even plays guitar maybe even a little bit more then Dino did. It probably was, well actually was the easiest Fear Factory cd we've ever done. As far as Byron, he's so far so good. We've done Australia, and we've done 2 weeks into this tour, and so far so good. He looks good in the band, he fits in real well.

Mike: On that note, What was it like writing the new material with out Dino in the band?

Ray: Well the recording wasn't really all that different we just did all the same things. Things probably weren't too much different on the drumming side, on the writing side it was definitely a little more different. Me and Christian would start writing stuff and would get stuff to Burt and depending on what Burt would write, we'd get that back and figure out where we'd go from there. So it actually helped Burt with the recording of it cause it allowed him to be way more prepared for the album. His vocals were about 95% done before we even went into the studio. Which is rare cause our previous records I'd be doing drum tracks, and Burt would still be writing lyrics. So that was probably the biggest change. So the bigger changes were actually with Burton and Christian rather then with me.

Mike: What is your favorite City/Venue to play in?

Ray: Favorite Venue? That's a good question cause there are so many great venues. Probably any of the ‘House of Blues' in the U.S. they're always really good, they always have really good food too and that's always a good thing. Favorite city to play…definitely L.A. cause after the shows I get to sleep in my own bed. Or anywhere near my house I guess.

Mike: What's the craziest thing you've ever seen or done on tour?

Ray: The craziest thing I've ever done would probably be spinning out our van. I was driving the van in the snow, and I'm Mexican I'm not really used to the snow, so that mix and I was driving the van. This was on Obituary tour I think. Hit a patch of ice and wound up doing a couple of 360's. That was the craziest thing I've ever done, probably the scariest too.

Mike: To give you an off-topic question a lot of people probably don't usually ask. What's your favorite movie of all time, and why?

Ray: Of all time? I might have to go with The Matrix, I think just because the story was so good, to think that it could've happened but yet it was so well written is like surreal in a way.

Mike: What band would you like to tour with the most and why?

Ray: I'd probably have to say maybe Metallica, we've toured with them before, but I'd have to say Metallica because they were so influential to me growing up. And it wouldn't be a bad thing to take some of their fans ::laughs::.